NASCAR Sprint FanView handsets may have worked their last race

The Associated PressSprint will likely no longer offer its FanView scanners at NASCAR races.

By Tripp Mickle

Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(December 2, 2010)

The NASCAR Sprint FanView handsets may have worked their last race. The contract between Sprint, ISC, NASCAR and Kangaroo.tv to provide the handsets is up at the end of the year, and it's unclear if the parties will renew or extend it. The agreement, which was announced in 2006, allowed the parties to provide $49.99 rentals of a hand-held scanner that included video, audio and data capabilities.

The deal initially was signed so that Sprint (then Nextel) could provide advanced technology to fans at the track. But as cell phone technology has developed and allowed Sprint to turn phones into scanners, there is less of a need for the FanView system, said Tim Considine, Sprint's director of sports marketing.

"The fan experience with FanView may change next year," he said, "but our belief and hope is it will be around for years to come. It just may be a different device."

Sprint is considering everything from exclusively providing a FanView-style experience on phones to partnering with another company that offers similar in-venue technology. There have been discussions with FanVision, the handheld company owned by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.

The FanView handsets were used by only a single-digit percentage of fans attending races. Considine said fans who bought a FanView device in the past four years will still be able to use it at tracks in 2011, but it is unlikely the device will be rented at tracks.

"We hope to bring a more enhanced device and technology (to tracks)," Considine said. "It will be a better experience for fans."